Aspect of the Dragonhawk: Friend or Foe?
I’ve seen discussion and speculation regarding this new aspect we’ll be seeing once Wrath is released, and I thought I’d spend some time today indulging in my own discussion of it. Rank 1 of Aspect of the Dragonhawk will be trainable at Level 74, and a second rank will follow up at Level 80.
Initial discussion, on various forums, of this new Aspect was muddled at best. Many players were unclear as to the purpose of it–was it intended as a replacement of the two aspects it draws from, or was it intended solely as a PvP mechanic that allowed for both dodge and attack power increases that were slightly less that it’s purer counterparts so that choosing between one aspect or the other was unnecessary?
My initial interpretation leaned towards the latter, and as it turns out, I was wrong in my assumption.
Upon further investigation, I found that Aspect of the Dragonhawk will provide not only the same dodge bonus as Aspect of the Monkey, but will also provide more attack power than Aspect of the Hawk’s highest rank.
Let me explain further.
First, we only receive one rank of Aspect of the Monkey, trained at Level 4. This one rank increases your dodge by 18% so that it scales effectively with level and gear, and through the Improved Aspect of the Monkey talent in the second tier of the Beast Mastery tree can be increased to 24% (which will also bring the dodge bonus of Dragonhawk up as well).
Second, we receive our final rank of Aspect of the Hawk at Level 68. Without subsequent ranks, a replacement was needed to help scale our attack power with our level. And thus, Aspect of the Dragonhawk was born.
The final rank of Aspect of the Hawk, Rank 8, provides an attack power increase of 155. Rank 1 of Aspect of the Dragonhawk increases attack power by 230 at Level 74. Rank 2, available at 80, increases attack power by 300.
Of course, this begs the question: why not just have more ranks of Hawk? It’s a valid question to be sure, but I think few are inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, the combination of these two classic aspects is a boon to both PvE and PvP combat, especially when the increase to attack power over previous ranks of Hawk is taken into consideration. Why choose when you don’t have to?
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This was introduced during the beta, on one of the discussions between GC and the beta hunters. AotDH is more for the PvP side, the AotH/AotM/AotV would have to be micromanaged. With this change, PvP hunters only have to micromanage Viper/Dragonhawk.
@Ravageclaw– Of course it was introduced in the Beta. Else it wouldn’t have been a Beta, no? AotDH is not intended to be used solely for PvP, though clearly it’s applications there cannot be denied. As I explained, we won’t be seeing new ranks of AotH and so AotDH is it’s intended replacement.
@Ihlos– Yes, the purpose of Aspects is to switch them based on what you’re doing. For PvE combat, it will still be an expectation that most Hunters will be swapping between AotDH and AotV. The same can also be true for PvP combat, though less so, since a full mana bar is only a death away…
What I meant: AotDH wasn’t planned on the initial iterations. It was added on mid-October due to the changes to AotM, making it more useful to PvP hunters, but requiring a lot of micromanaging, a la stance-dancing. One of the key aspects is that everything that affects AotH or AotM will affect AotDH.
It is a PvP buff to AotH, which doesn’t affect (much) on PvE.
Reading blue posts would answer all of this. I’ll try to dig up the post where Ghostcrawler said this would be added, but the story in brief is that hunters were constantly switching between Hawk and Monkey, and (1) that wasn’t desirable, but (2) the effect the hunters were getting was. Based on that, Blizzard made an aspect that had both of them to eliminate the power-switching.
I’m not sure who or in what situations they conducted their tests with Aspect changing, but I know for sure I don’t usually switch between Hawk and Monkey. Heck, Monkey isn’t even keybound.
@Ravageclaw– Your assessment is, in part, incorrect. AotDH will become the standard for PvE when AotV isn’t in use for mana regen. AotDH Rank 1 provides 240 AP, AotH Rank 8 (the final rank) provides 155. The superiority of AotDH is thus indisputable as it stands now for PvE (or PvP).
@Luke– Already a fait accompli. It’s not speculation that this will be added–it’s already in, and it’s been established why it’s there.
@Tora– It’s something that’s done with surprising consistency in PvP situations. This is a change that has needed to happen for quite some time.
That’s why I said it’s a PvP buff to AotH, since it’s intended on “replacing” it. 
Just a side note, before the AotDH announcement, there was two new ranks for AotH, which AotDH has now replaced.
I think Aspect of the Dragon is awsome, I wander if the IAoH talent effects it. Not that I really care to much being a survival spec lover through and through. One thing though rumour has it they are ditching Camouflage 
shame it does seem so sv/hunter like lol.
There is a BM talent: Aspect mastery.
For a pve BM it is a musthave, and it is good for every specs for almost every situations.
Dragonhawk will provide more AP.
But: There are a few improvements for both aspect of the hawk and aspect of the monkey: I mean, the two talents and the two glyphs.
In the Aspect mastery talent’s description we can see that these improvements will only work with AotDH if you have the Aspect mastery talent as well.
The only question is: Will we get the bonuses given by the aspect mastery talent itself? I mean, the damage reduction for monkey and AP bonus for Hawk. The description of the talent is a bit confusing.
For pvp marksmen: (cos that I am) we will have a serious question then:
Aspect mastery with 24% dodge bonus and +AP and +haste or our former best fleeing spell: scattershot, and +4% crit chance for arcane shot, 20% for melee abilities and entrapment in lower tiers.
@Tsilluver: All glyphs and all talents that affect AotM or AotH will apply to AotDH, ie, if you get the AotM glyph, this glyph will also apply to AotDH. If you get both the AotM and the AotH glyphs, both will apply to AotDH.
When I first discovered this aspect when I hit lvl 74 (never heard of it before), my first reaction was : “Yes O.K, and now what about Aspect Of The Hawk ?”.
I just get rid of it, becomes useless at lvl 74 with this new aspect …
Strange from Blizzard.
Yeah I don’t understand them at this point. First they nerf our dodge, then they give it back through this. Isn’t the point of aspects that you would switch? They took them off the gcd. Its all conflicting.
What I would like to see is aotm applying to pets. That would be a great dps-for-pet-survivability tradeoff, and it would bring pets avoidance to a respectable level.